A coroner has ruled that the use of lethal force was not justified when the SAS shot dead four IRA men in 1992.
Kevin Barry O’Donnell, 21, Sean O’Farrell, 22, Peter Clancy, 21, and Patrick Vincent, 20, were killed, just minutes after they carried out a gun attack on Coalisland police station in February that year.
When the men returned to the car park of St. Patrick’s Church in the town they were ambushed by an SAS unit who were lying in wait. The unit fired more than 500 rounds at the men.
Mr. Justice Michael Humphreys said that “in each case the use of force was not justified."
“The operation was not planned and controlled in such a way as to minimise as to the greatest extent possible the need for recourse to lethal force.”
Two of those who died, Kevin Barry O’Donnell and Sean O’Farrell, were shot in the back as they attempted to flee the ambush. Both men were then shot in the face as they lay on the ground. A bullet wound to Peter Clancy was “suggestive” of “having his hands in the air at the time he was shot." Patrick Vincent was found to be sitting in the cab of the lorry and then when lying incapacitated across the vehicle’s seat.
Welcoming the ruling, Mid-Ulster MP Cathal Mallaghan said it confirmed “that these four men were executed by the SAS without justification."
“The families of these four men have courageously campaigned for over three decades to reveal the full truth around this incident, and to debunk false accusations spread at the time by state agencies,” said the Sinn Féin man.
DUP leader Gavin Robinson hit out at the judgement which he said “beggars belief."
“The IRA members were heavily armed and had returned to a known arms dump, indicating their intent to continue violent activity, making them legitimate military targets under the rules of engagement,” he added.
“Given the IRA’s history of deadly ambushes and refusal to surrender, the SAS had to act decisively to neutralise the threat. In the context of the Troubles, where the IRA engaged in sustained armed terror, the SAS response was a proportionate and justified counterterrorism measure aimed at protecting lives.”
